Too Old @ 34??

[shouldi]

Lately, I have been giving some serious thought to getting an MBA from a top school. I would really appreciate some honest advise. Here is my situation-
I already have an MBA from a hospitality school (3.6 GPA) that is not so well known outside of the hospitality world, I have 8-9 years of experience in Hotel and Restaurant Management and am currently with a top casual dining chain as a GM. Should I even bother starting to prepare for the GMAT given my age? I know if I apply myself, I can score around 700. Would I be better off applying only for the 'Executive MBA' type courses? How are these degrees valued as opposed to a full time MBA? Would my unusual experience be an advantage or a disadvantage?

Any help that you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

[MBAApply]

Why are you looking for another MBA at this point? In any case, since you already have one your options are basically limited to executive programs.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

[shouldi]

Thanks for the reply Alex. The reason I am looking for a second MBA is because I am interested in a career switch. I am really interested in finance. Is there better route?

[MBAApply]

With the kind of economy we're in, probably not a whole lot :-(

Honestly, it's going to be at least a few years before hiring picks up again in financial services. This kind of cycle isn't unusual - it's happened post 9/11 (hiring didn't really pick up until '05 or so), early 90s recession (hiring didn't really pick up until '96), and so forth.

The other thing is, you can't keep on going back to do an MBA every time you want to make a career switch. You're going to make career switches a few times in your life (like most of us will - gone are the days of a lifelong career), so you're going to have to find a way to network and do it without spending more time and money to repeat essentially the same degree program.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com